As Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said during his fiery speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference shindig in Orlando, Fla., over the weekend, you’d have to have been living in a cave for the past year to not know about the phrase, “Let’s Go, Brandon.”
But because we live in an increasingly post-constitutional society, it is becoming more difficult — as in, ‘less acceptable’ — to engage in our supposed God-given, founding document-recognized right to speak and express ourselves freely, including, it seems, using the more polite version of a phrase disparaging President Joe Biden.
Nathan Kirk, the owner of Blount County Tactical in Blount County, first shared the incident with AL.com:
Alabama recalls a "Let’s go Brandon" license plate, calling it "objectionable." https://t.co/qHYFcNaIVi pic.twitter.com/r6ls4ICjI5
— AL.com (@aldotcom) February 28, 2022
“Nothing about it is right,” Kirk said in reference to the letter from the state’s Department of Revenue. “Someone at Montgomery, I’m assuming, doesn’t like it, and now they’re throwing a fit.”
The letter, sent to his wife Courtney Kirk since she also appears on the vehicle’s title, demanded that the license plate be changed within 10 days and claimed the plate’s lettering of “LGBFJB” is “objectionable content.”
“The Alabama Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division, has determined the above referenced license plate contains objectionable language which is considered by the Department to be offensive to the peace and dignity of the State of Alabama,” the letter reportedly stated.
According to The Daily Wire:
Kirk said he paid $700 for the personalized lettering on his “Don’t Tread on Me” plate in October 2021. The report noted Kirk is considering legal action on First Amendment grounds.
The license plate’s lettering referring to “Let’s Go Brandon” and “F*** Joe Biden” builds on the popularity of the phrases following a NASCAR race at Alabama’s Talladega Speedway in 2021. The crowd behind NASCAR winner Brandon Brown chanted, “F*** Joe Biden.” The NBC Sports announcer claimed they were saying, “Let’s Go Brandon!”
The viral phrase quickly led to memes and merchandise using the phrase as a jab at President Joe Biden and his policies.
The phrase was also incorporated into a Super Bowl ad by Pennsylvania Senate Candidate David McCormick.
There’s now going to be a “let’s go Brandon” Super Bowl ad in PA by senate candidate McCormick https://t.co/tLfox9d76r pic.twitter.com/lFzqjdSBg5
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) February 13, 2022
“The issues we are facing are so much bigger than ‘Brandon.’ The frustration and anger we are feeling toward the failures of our current leadership in Washington is what motivated me to run,” McCormick said in an interview with Fox News before the ad was released during the biggest sporting event of the year.
“Whether it’s not being able to afford gas or groceries because of record-high inflation, rampant crime in our cities, a dramatic spike in the trafficking of fentanyl and human exploitation across open borders, or the disgraceful lack of accountability for the death of 13 young service members in Afghanistan — these problems were self-inflicted by Joe Biden and the extreme policies of the Left. Pennsylvanians have had enough,” McCormick, a Gulf War combat veteran, added.
In January, Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, who heavily criticized Biden, noted that there are a lot of problems the country is dealing with today thanks to “Brandon.”
“All the problems you see with our country, and there’s a huge amount of problems with Brandon in the White House,” DeSantis said. “I mean look, the guy is not clicking on all cylinders, he’s not had a very good year.”
“We’re still strong in the state of Florida. We’re beating Brandon in Florida,” DeSantis noted further. “When I got elected, there were about 300,000 more registered Democrats in Florida than Republicans. Well now, for the first time in history, we have more Republicans than Democrats, and we’re gaining more and more every single month.”
